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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Sleep Sci 2017; 10(02): 78-79
DOI: 10.5935/1984-0063.20170014
CORREPONDENCE

Human hypocretin-deficient narcolepsy - aberrant food choice due to impaired taste?

Giselle de Martin Truzzi
1   Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Departamento de Psicobiologia - São Paulo - São Paulo - Brazil
,
Renata Carvalho Cremaschi
1   Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Departamento de Psicobiologia - São Paulo - São Paulo - Brazil
2   Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Departamento de Neurologia e Neurocirurgia - São Paulo - São Paulo - Brazil
,
Fernando Morgadinho Coelho
1   Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Departamento de Psicobiologia - São Paulo - São Paulo - Brazil
2   Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Departamento de Neurologia e Neurocirurgia - São Paulo - São Paulo - Brazil
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Authors demonstrate that patients with narcolepsy type 1 (N1) have more tendency of eat salty snacks after satiety than health volunteers. A few mechanisms to explain the weight gain have been discussed in narcolepsy. The hypocretin-1 deficiency can influence the olfactory system. The olfactory system should be modulated through hypocretin-1 via connections from the hypothalamic to other brain regions. Likewise, hypocretin-1 can be synthesized locally in our olfactory mucosa with possible private role modulating the olfactory. In experimental studies, different kinds of smell influence the preference for type of diet. Olfactory and taste sensations help control of appetite and regulate the quantity and quality of foods that will be chosen. N1 patients have lower levels of hypocretin-1 and consequent inferior olfactory threshold, less olfactory discrimination, and these findings improved after nasal hypocretin-1 administration. It is possible that the hyposmia influenced the quality and quantity of food by narcoleptic patients. We suggest that a complementary analysis of olfactory function should be done concomitant with food preferences to compare narcoleptic patients with and without hypocretin-1 deficiency.

Narcolepsy - Hypocretin-1 - Obesity - Olfaction


Publication History

Received: 20 April 2017

Accepted: 02 May 2017

Article published online:
09 October 2023

© 2023. Brazilian Sleep Association. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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